31 July 2010

To give you an idea of how far behind I am... I went to see Matt and Ted Lee in April and I am just now writing about it.

The Lee Bros. were quite charming and proved that you don't have to be born in the South to be a Southern Gentleman. The Lee Bros. told stories of their love of food and talked a bit about searching through old cookbooks, which of course, is a favorite pastime here. I attended with Harry Lowe and both ANN(e)'s. Ann is a photographer who's work has graced the cover of Life Magazine but alas, she doesn't cook. Anne can cook but taking pictures with her nifty iPhone needs some work! Still, the Lee Bros. were game.

They were at the Smithsonian not only to talk about food, but also to sell their latest cookbook, Simple Fresh Southern. The pages are rich with lovely photos of drinks and salads and desserts. Not to despair, there are also a few fried items sprinkled here and there. Like most regional cuisine, "Southern" cooking is about as diverse as can be. When I cook, one of my goals is to take the essence of something traditional and serve it up in a unique way. The Lee Bros. have the same aesthetic in their cooking, which is why I always love to read their recipes and listen to them talk about food. If you haven't seen them "throwdown" with Bobby Flay making Country Captain, you must hunt it down and watch. (I won't spoil it by telling you the winner.) For that matter, why does Bobby Flay have two or three shows on TV and Lee Bros. don't???

They talked about the various methods of making collards, from the cooking for many hours version that is the traditional way to the quicker, dice and cook method. They also told a wonderful story about potlikker. Later I shared with them one of my favorite potlikker uses. You can check it out at Lucindaville.

When I ran across this dish in Simple Fresh Southern, I realized it was a similar to a dish a friend in Mississippi used to make. It was a wonderful potato dish that contained frozen potatoes, cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise and jarred peppers. It was a bit like watching sausage being made, you didn't really want to watch, but in the end, it was delicious.

This dish is not as dicey to watch being put together and it is, well -- simple, fresh and Southern.

1. Heat the oven to 375°F, with racks positioned in the middle and the top third of the oven.

2. In a 3- to 4-quart stockpot, bring 2 quarts water and 2 teaspoons of the salt to a boil. Add the potatoes, and cook for 10 minutes. Then drain, and set them aside.

3. Combine the cream, shallots, chile flakes, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, the black pepper, and 2 tablespoons of the liquid from the jar of roasted peppers in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer, and cook until the chile flakes have begun to stain the cream, about 2 minutes. Add half of the cheese and stir until it melts, about 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat.

4. Layer roughly a third of the potatoes in a 6-cup baking dish, overlapping them slightly so that they fit in an even layer. Scatter half of the roasted peppers on top of the potatoes (cut up any peppers that have remained whole so that they lie flat), and repeat layering potatoes and peppers until all the peppers and potatoes have been used. Pour the cream mixture over the potatoes and peppers, and agitate the dish to distribute the liquid throughout. Cover with aluminum foil, and bake on the middle rack for 15 minutes.

5. Uncover the dish, sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top, and place the dish on the top oven rack. Bake for 8 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and gently browned on top. Serve immediately.

The Lee Bros. refer to pimento-cheese as a Southern pâté. While we are on the subject of pimento-cheese...it was always a staple in my house. Like many things, it fell out of favor, but came back with vengeance. Not just as a sandwich, but for me, a quick meal. Her are a few ideas:

I make pimento-cheese mashed potatoes -- throw a spoonful into the hot potatoes and mash.

Top some tortillas chips with pimento-cheese and some ground beef for a Southern twist on nachos.

Try mixing three cup of pimento-cheese into cooked macaroni and baking for a quick mac and pimento-cheese.

In July, Ann was visiting and she asked me to make a Tomato Pie. I asked her if she had read a recipe somewhere and she said no. She had just heard someone mention it and she wanted a savory tomato pie, because it sounded good. For a quick Tomato Pie, take a store-bought crust, layer it with sliced tomatoes and pimento-cheese, with the pimento-cheese last. Bake in a 375 oven for about 40 minutes.

Now I want you to drag out those old junior league cookbooks and find a recipe that you can update and make simple, fresh, and lovely.

30 July 2010

Today’s joint venture with Famous Food Friday at Lucindaville is none other than Dolly Parton. I bet you didn’t even know she could cook. Sing yes. Act and write and run a theme park, yes. But cook? Well, she watched her Mama feed 12 kids in a tiny cabin, so some of that cooking had to rub off.

Dolly gathered up a whole bunch of recipes and wrote a cookbook, Dolly’s Dixie Fixin’s. The cookbook is filled with her Mama’s recipes as well as recipes from family and friends. There is a section on Christmas and other celebrations. Sections on barbeque, breads and sweets. Also, there a section called Road Kill that feature… not road kill, but recipes from some of Parton’s favorite roadside eateries like the Loveless Café and Mama Dips.

“…the two things I require in all my homes are a great kitchen and a chapel.”

Dolly’s Dixie Fixin’s follows the time-honored tradition in the South of gathering together collections of recipes to raise money for a church or a junior league. Parton’s cookbook raises money for a project close to her heart, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. In 1996, Parton began giving away books to children to spark their love of reading. She had a simple idea, give children, regardless of their family income, a book of their own every month. Parton personally sent a book every month to every child in Sevier County, Tennessee. The books begin with The Little Engine That Could and end, the month the child goes to kindergarten with, Look Out Kindergarten Here I Come. Needless to say, the idea caught on and before long there were Imagination Libraries popping up everywhere.

Like Dolly, food and reading are two of my favorite things.

Here is an appropriately titled recipe from Dolly. According to Parton:

“…when I stopped hoeing corn and working in the fields and moved to Nashville, I grew quite a bit larger. I was so fat, when I hauled ass I had to make two trips.”

These bars couldn’t be any sweeter. Just reading the recipe will make your teeth hurt.

Pour the butter into an 8 by 8-inch baking pan. Spread the graham cracker crumbs in the bottom of the pan. Arrange the chocolate chips over the crumbs, followed by the coconut and pecans. Pour the condensed milk over the pecans. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes. The bars will not look like they’re cooked; they need to cool on a rack to firm up. Cut into bars once they are cooked.

I’m sure if you eat a big ol’ plate of these, you, too, will have to make a couple of trips to haul ass. And, if your community is looking for a fine project for children, look into the Imagination Library.

28 July 2010

Elizabeth Craig was born in Scotland in 1883. She published her first cookery book in the 1920’s and her last in the 1980 when she was 97 years old. There is a famous story about Craig that I am sure I told you before, but it is worth repeating. Craig broke a hip and was lying in her hospital bed when her publishers suggesting that someone else should finish her next book. Craig would have none of it and has her notes brought into her and she finished the book by herself in the hospital.

You can’t keep a good woman down.

In fact, Elizabeth Craig wrote over 70 books on cookery and household management. She began publishing cookery books after the end of World War I when rationing was in effect and food items were often scarce. By the time her career ended, food was abundant and every home held a refrigerator. Her writing reflected this change in society.

In her two volume set, Cookery and Household Management, Craig offers up over 1000 recipes for entertaining and dining. Volume 1 is loaded with over 1000 recipes and Volume 2 offers up more recipes with household advice and management. The recipes in Volume 2 act as a kind of specialized instruction. There are recipes to lose weight, recipes for feeding invalids and one for feeding children.There is a chapter on local (British) foods and a special selection of Jewish cuisine. There is wonderful chapter on The Empire Kitchen – food from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India, South Africa and the West Indies, and though there is no true “Empire” left, it is fun to look at these disparate areas lumped together in a section of recipes.

I rather like this recipe because of the title, Shrimped Tomatoes. True, they are just tomatoes stuffed with shrimp, but stuffed tomatoes with shrimp just doesn’t have the cache of “Shrimped Tomatoes.” It is probable important to point out that the shrimp stuffing these tomatoes are brown shrimp, tiny little shrimp you don’t find too much in America. Americans like “jumbo” shrimp which a proper Empire Kitchen would refer to as a “prawn” which is technically or should I say biologically different from a shrimp as they belong to different suborders of Decapoda, but I digress…

21 July 2010

I love picnics. Though I must admit, I have never really found a picnic book that I adore, completely. Picnics, by Sara Deseran, is one of the best little picnic books. It offers a nice mix of recipes and heaping helpings of picnic advice. There is a list of items to bring to the picnic. How frustrating can it be to arrive at a lovely picnic area and realize that you have no corkscrew?

Deseran adds a menu section in the back of the book. She takes recipes from the book and arranges them into events like a City Picnic, an Elegant Brunch, or a Latin Barbeque. The menus are a nice touch.

I am a huge fan of orzo and it rarely shows up in cookbooks. For my money, it is versatile, easy to use, and downright tasty. Picnics offers up a great orzo salad.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the orzo and cook until just tender, about 8 minutes. Drain. Rinse with cold water and drain again. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and mix well. Set aside.

Put the tomatoes in a large bowl and add 1 teaspoon salt. Let stand for 1/2 hour or so and then drain any accumulated liquid. Add the cucumber, red onion, feta, olives, parsley, lemon juice and the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and gently mix. Add the orzo and gently toss with the vegetables. Season with the remaining salt and the pepper. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

20 July 2010

I know, I know, I don’t need another cookbook about Provence. There are clafouti, and moules and tomato tarts, oh my. Still, there has never been a Provence cookbook I didn’t love and Alex Mackay’s Cooking In Provence is no different. I can’t help myself, but French food just looks better than any food on the page. How is that possible? I don’t know, but it is a fact. Rather than palaver on, take a look at the food.

Line a heart, or any perforated mould – the base of a small colander would do – with a layer of muslin. Mix the fresh cheese with half the sugar and the lemon juice and spoon it into the muslin and mould, being careful not to crease the muslin too much. Tap the mould against the table a few times to knock out any air bubbles and leave to drain for at least 2 hours.

Mix the first 250 g (9oz) raspberries with the remaining sugar and 100 ml (3 1/2 fl oz) water in a small pan. Bring to a boil, purée and strain, and mix the remaining fruit.

To serve, unmould the cheese heart, warm the berries in the coulis and help yourself to the double cream.

I think coeur a la crème is a wonderful, and lovely dessert. It is quite easy to make and tasty. I am resolving to make it at least twice this summer!

19 July 2010

Joan E. Aller has written a book about cooking in Southern Appalachia, Cider Beans, Wild Greens and Dandelion Jelly. The exact “region” covered by Appalachia is a bit fluid. Generally Appalachia runs from middle-eastern Mississippi, through middle Alabama, north Georgia, western Virginia, Maryland, South and North Carolina, eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, southern Pennsylvania and most of West Virginia.

Aller moved to the Tennessee Mountains and fell in love with the culture. She began gathering recipes from the region. The focus is the area around her, Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina. She mixes traditional recipes with recipes from a growing number of bed and breakfast inns throughout the area. That means that Ramps and Bacon show up along side Warm Camembert Salad with Apples and Walnuts; Hot Artichoke Dip finds itself with Shrimp and Grits.

Aller has studied the historical background of the area, tracing the Cherokee to the Melungeons to the Africans to the Europeans to the owners of Bed and Breakfasts. Each migration brought new foods and twists on the native flora and fauna.

The Melungeons were a strange sect, probably descended from Berber Muslims and Sephardic Jews fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. Immigrating to the new world on Portuguese ships. They settled in the mountains of Appalachia, keeping to themselves. As more Europeans arrived, the Melungeons pushed further and further into the hills. With no written language of their own, they became almost a myth in the area, their very name used to keep children in line. There is a recipe for Melungeon friendship bread, a tradition carried on by the Amish. The bread is nurtured for 22 days, and then baked. Along with a loaf of bread, the recipient gets a bag of starter to keep the bread moving. As someone who has made and passed on friendship bread, I have to say the intent is noble but the thought of having to spend 22 days getting more starter ready to bake can be a trial. Pretty soon, people begin to hide when they see you coming with bread and that ubiquitous bag of starter.

One of my favorite recipes from Appalachia is for honey cream. It is not something you see too often, but it really should be a staple in every kitchen. Serve it on pancakes, cornbread or fry bread. It works on fruit, too.

Tennessee Honey Cream

2 cups heavy cream2 teaspoons honey

In a medium bowl using a stand mixer, beat the cream on medium speed until it begins to thicken. Drizzle in the honey and continue to beat until the whipped cream is thick.

This is a great addition to Southern cuisine and the history of regional cooking.

18 July 2010

One day Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian compiled a little newsletter about food in Ojai. They dubbed it Edible Ojai and for a couple of years they toiled in not quite obscurity. Noticed by Saveur, Edible Ojai was featured in their top 100 for 2004. In the tiny blurb, the authors expressed a desire for their concept to, “crop up everywhere.” Be careful what you wish for!

Over the next few years about 60 local “edibles” sprang up; from Ojai to Boston, from Portland to Orlando and my closest -- Edible Allegheny.

It was only natural to envision a cookbook culled from all those “edible” editions celebrating local foods, farmers and artisans. Actually, like most of their publications, Edible is more than a cookbook, it is a hymn to those local individuals who have dedicated their lives to producing, maintaining, and promoting local foods.

Preheat the oven to 350 f. Have a large bowl of ice water ready. In a large saucepan of boiling salted water, blanch (partially cook) the collards until bright green and slightly tender, about 2 minutes. In a colander, drain the collards, then plunge the greens into the ice water. Drain well and squeeze dry; set aside.

In the same saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and cook until it is tender but not browned, about 2 minutes. Stir in the cream. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook until slightly thickened, 1 to 2 minutes.

Lightly grease a 1-quart casserole pan. In a medium bowl, combine the collards, cream mixture, cheese, salt, and pepper. Spread the mixture evenly into the baking pan. Cover with the lid or foil and bake until the cheese is melted, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

For someone who always saw collards cooked for at least 2 hours, this is a great way to cook them quickly.

Check out the Edible Communications web site to find an Edible publication in your area. If there isn’t one… you know you always wanted to be magazine publisher!

17 July 2010

Adriana Trigiani is a best-selling novelist. She immortalized her home in the Virginia hills, Big Stone Gap. Her books are filled with family and a strong sense of place, so it is only natural that her cookbook, Cooking With My Sisters, is, too. She grew up in a household with six children, four girls and two boys. They were a large Italian, Catholic family in the Baptist South of Virginia.

Trigiani tells of the first time they were fed “spaghetti” at school, an event she described as “shocking.”

"The noodles were boiled until you could see though them and then sloshed with sloppy joe mix, heavy on the ground hamburger. We did our best to swing the cafeteria staff toward authentic Eye-talian (as they put it,) but we gave up when they insisted that all spaghetti sauce needs is a base of chopped meat, a cup of ketchup, and a shot of chili powder."

It is a story I know too well. When I went to school in the North (South Dakota, so maybe still in the South.) I remember being served “cornbread.” Though it was not cornbread, but rather an overcooked, slightly crusty yellow cake, sweet and sticky and nothing close to my Mother’s cornbread. I was horrified.

Culture shock is a bitch!

Trigiani book is filled with stories and recipes, with a plethora of "notes" from her sisters. Here is a family recipe for cookies, but not the sweet kind, the small savory bites known as Taralli. A perfect compliment to a glass of wine with sisters.

Take a piece of dough ant roll it between your hands, making a pencil-like shape 4 to 5 inches long. Create a circle by joining the ends together and pinching them closed. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake for about 8 minutes, or until golden brown.

Adriana Trigiani brings the same love of family and language to her cooking as she does to her novels.

16 July 2010

Today’s Famous Food moment is a blast from the past -- the groovy, swinging sixties! In 1967, this slim volume gathered together a group of famous and not “scene-makers”.

It features, according to the cover, “dozens of nutty, turned-on, easy-to-prepare recipes from the grooviest gourmets happening.” On the back cover: “Dig the sounds… in the kitchen. They’re hip, mod, delicious recipes from today’s top scene-makers…”

Who are these “scene-makers”? Well, some you know – the Rolling Stones – and some – The Cyrkle – are clearly no longer making the “scene.” There is Omar Sharif sharing his Southern Fried Chicken recipe. No offence but I’m not sure I want Omar Sharif making fried chicken! There are the Buckingham’s long before Lindsay ever saw Stevie Nicks. There is Don Adams and an entry by Sybil Burton Christopher, who was Richard Burton’s wife before Elizabeth Taylor. After she was dumped by Burton she moved to Manhattan, opened a boutique and, if this little cookbook is any indication, made the “scene.” (She is also the mother of Kate Burton who played Ellis Grey, who was the mother of Meredith Grey, played by Ellen Pompeo in Grey’s Anatomy. So, in some way, that makes Sybil the de facto “grandmother” of Meredith Grey, or maybe not… I digress.)

As you can see from these page, no expense was spared in the production of this book!

Here are just a few of the groovy dishes one might find oneself eating while making the scene.

Prepare the instant mashed potatoes, or boil and mash the potatoes. (Use milk and butter, making regular, every-day mashed potatoes.) Cook the frankfurters according to the package directions and heat the baked beans.

On each plate, serve a mound of creamy mashed potatoes ringed by heated canned baked beans. Over the top of all this, slice up the frankfurters in good-sized chunks.

Mick supposedly “invented” this dish with Charlie Watts adding in the canned beans.

When I think of the iconic, swinging sixties scene, one name always comes to mind – Leonard Nimoy. This is a fab first course invented by Nimoy, himself.

Mix he soup, water, sour cream, lemon juice and seasoning, and beat with an egg beater. Stir in chopped vegetables. Chill and serve in cold soup bowls. (It is especially nice if you can let it chill overnight.)

How fab is that. Canned soup chilled! Overnight.

Finally, for all my blog readers, a third recipe from a triple threat – one Barbra Streisand. In 1967 she was an actress, a singing star, and now a mother. According to Singer & Swingers, Streisand took up cooking when she went into retirement. (The first of many retirements in Bab’s history.) This recipe is for her invention she calls instant ice cream.

Barbra’s Instant Coffee Ice Cream

24 marshmallows1 cup milk1 teaspoon instant coffee1 cup heavy cream

Turn your refrigerator to the coldest point. Pour milk into a saucepan, heat, and gradually add the marshmallows. Mix until the mixture is smooth; add the instant coffee. Let it cool a bit. Whip the cream until stiff; mix cream and marshmallow mix together and pour into and empty ice cube tray. Freeze.

Barbra likes it with pretzels. Believe it or not.

Seriously, with this cookbook I’ll believe anything.

Might I suggest that you gather your friends to make the scene? You can be the swinger who whips up dinner. Start with Cold Soup Nimoy (Don’t forget to chill it overnight.) For the main course Hot Dogs on the Rocks finished up with Barbra’s Instant Coffee Ice Cream with a side of pretzels, just like Barbra!

15 July 2010

Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton were two gals with cool food careers. Hirsheimer was one of the founders of Saveur magazine. She was a food and design editor at Metropolitan Home. As a photographer, she takes classic and inviting images of food and its surroundings. Hamilton worked at Martha Stewart Living, Cook’s Illustrated, and at Saveur. She co-founded the Restaurant Hamilton’s Grill Room and served as the executive chef. So what did they do when they decided to leave the corporate magazine world? They started a magazine/book kind of thing.

As an editor of a literary magazine, I follow the comings and goings of literary start-ups, so why not do give recipes the same treatment as short fiction or poetry. Hirsheimer and Hamilton rented a studio in a red brick building on a canal, added a couple of small stoves, some pots and pans and a bit of olive oil and Canal House Cooking was founded.

Basically, they meet in the morning, make some coffee, tell each other what they had for dinner and then cook all day. Sounds like a plan. Three times a year, they publish a magazine in the form of a literary magazine that is chocked full or seasonal recipes.

From Issue #1

Potato Salad “Buttered” And Lemoned

Assemble the salad while the potatoes are still warm allows them to absorb the flavors of all the “fixins”.

Peel the potatoes if you use a thick-skinned variety or if you simply prefer peeled potatoes for this dish. Put the potatoes in a large pot of cold water generously seasoned with salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until they are tender. Drain.

When they are cool enough to handle, slice the potatoes and arrange them on a serving platter, “buttering” one side with some of the mayonnaise as you work. Drizzle the potatoes with the olive oil, season them with salt and pepper, and garnish the potatoes with the preserved lemons and chives.

Not only do the girls cook, but they lift a glass, too. And the population of Lucindaville loves to lift a glass. Here is a libation from the current Issue #4. The recipe was sent in by a supported to help with a deadline. Though, it might just make you miss a deadline or two.

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Cookbook Notes

Recipes come directly from the listed cookbooks. We impose no uniform standards upon them. That is why you find omelettes and omelets, cups and liters and other peculiarities in the text. And I'm a bit dyslexic, so my personal spelling can be a tad idiosyncratic on its own.

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Lucindaville features food, fame and farming. You will find zippy recipes like Chocolate Honey Barbeque Fritos Pie. Famous Food Friday featuring cookbooks by the famous, Liberace comes to mind. Etiquette Wednesday, so you, too, can learn to become An Expert Waitress. And much more...